


Picky Eater

by caecias



Category: BIRDMEN - 田辺イエロウ | Tanabe Yellow
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 05:22:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8652562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caecias/pseuds/caecias
Summary: Tatsume treats the Bird Club to a mealDay 5 of Birdmen week: Meal Time





	

“In celebration of Rei’s awakening, I’m going to treat you all to sushi tomorrow!” Tatsume declares. The Bird Club cheers. Even Eishi’s excited, though he’s loathe to show it. It’s not everyday that he gets to eat sushi, after all. It’s much better than curry, for one thing.

Takayama looks subdued, Eishi notices, but then again, he’s always subdued, and frustrating opaque while he’s at it. Eishi wouldn’t be surprised if Takayama was the most enthusiastic one out of the entire group.

\-----

Tomorrow comes and Eishi’s yawning every five minutes on the dot; his excitement kept him awake--not that he’ll ever admit he’d lose sleep over a sushi dinner, because only little kids would do something like that, and Eishi is a Middle Schooler and therefore Too Cool for that sort of thing.

The school day ends, and Eishi’s at his locker, slipping on his outdoor shoes when Kamoda and Sagisawa approach him.

“Ei-chan, are you excited for sushi?” 

“Not particularly,” Eishi answers, straight-faced. “It’s only food.”

Sagisawa smiles brightly at him, and Eishi feels his heart sink. “I'm looking forward to it as well!”

“As well?” Kamoda inquires, eyebrows knitting together.

“He’s talking about you,” Eishi lies, deliberately not looking at Sagisawa. Kamoda nods thoughtfully. 

“I could be,” Sagisawa interrupts, “but maybe I’m not. Who knows.” He shrugs, as if he's genuinely confused, but he catches Eishi’s eyes, and lets a smirk tug the corners of his mouth up. 

Eishi wants to scream.

“Kamoda, didn't you promise to help the drama club today?” Eishi tries desperately. 

“Oh shoot, you're right!” Kamoda sprints out of the shoe lockers, turning back only to cheerfully shout goodbyes to Eishi and Sagisawa.

“So,” Sagisawa drawls, after Kamoda’s well out of earshot, “You do get excited about normal things.”

“Shut up,” Eishi sputters.

\-----

“Sorry for the wait, guys! My friend dragged me into filling a spot on the soccer team for a game today,” Umino explains. She flashes a peace sign. “It's ‘cuz I've got a killer kick, yaknow?” 

“We’re well aware, Tsubame,” Sagisawa replies, vaguely amused. Kamoda takes a generous step away from Umino, who beams at Sagisawa.

“Where’s Takayama?” she asks, craning her neck to see past the others. 

**I'm right here** , Takayama tweets, materializing directly behind Eishi. Eishi jumps what feels like several feet into the air.

“Holy shit,” he wheezes. “ _Don’t_ sneak up on me like that, please.”

Takayama cocks his head. “I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you?” Eishi sighs heavily. He knows it’s true, but still. One of these days he’s going to have a heart attack.

“Takayama, what’s with the backpack?” Kamoda asks. 

“I use it to carry stuff.”

Sagisawa leans towards Eishi. “Yeah, that’s generally how backpacks are used,” he mutters. Eishi snorts.

“Since we’re all here now, let’s go get some sushi!” Tatsume announces. 

Umino pumps her arms into the air. “Guys, I’m so excited for this! I’m gonna eat tuna and squid and salmon and eel and-”

“-Maybe not that much, Tsubame.” Tatsume looks faint. “I still need to pay my electricity bill this month.”

\-----

The Bird Club is seated surprisingly fast, considering how busy the place is. Eishi makes sure to grab the seat closest to the corner of the room--he hates having his back turned to the room. Takayama takes the seat next to him, dropping his bag to the floor with a thud.

The staff here clearly must be psychic, because a waitress appears the moment Eishi decides on his order.

“Hello! My name is Arakawa, and I’ll be serving you today!” Arakawa grins brightly and turns to Takayama. “What would you like to order?”

“Oh,” Takayama says. “I brought my own.” As he speaks, he unzips his backpack, and pulls out a bentou box, which he sets on the table. Tatsume coughs. The waitress stares at him uncertainly, before quickly taking the others’ orders, and skirts away from the table.

“Takayama,” Eishi hisses, after she’s left. “ _Why_ did you bring a bentou to a restaurant?”

**I don’t like fish.**

“You don’t like fish?!” Eishi whispers, incredulous. “Why didn’t you say anything _before_ we went to a sushi restaurant?”

Takayama shrugs. 

“Takayama, you don’t like fish?” Kamoda asks, loudly. Eishi shoots him a look-- _they’re in a sushi restaurant_. “We live in Japan, dude. We _breathe_ seafood here.”

Takayama shrugs again. “I just don’t like it.” 

“Sou, you don’t like seafood?” Tatsume mutters. “Do you want to go to a different restaurant?”

Takayama shakes his head. “Everyone else wants to eat sushi.”

“Dude, seriously, I’m fine with going to another restaurant,” Kamoda says, joining in. “It’s no fun if everyone isn’t having fun!”

“I agree!” Umino chirps, and Sagisawa nods in agreement. Everyone turns to face Eishi, expectantly. His face burns under their scrutiny.

“Um.” Eishi averts his eyes, desperately willing the blush away. “I’m fine with it too. It’s okay to speak up about what you don’t like, you know.” To his dismay, Eishi can feel his blush deepening. “It won--it won’t cause problems for us.” 

Tatsume gives Eishi a look so soft and warm that he can practically see it coming off of the old man in physical waves. Kamoda’s looking at him with adoration, Umino’s beaming at him, and even Sagisawa’s smiling. Eishi wants to die.

But Takayama looks happy, so Eishi guesses his sacrifice was worth it.

Tatsume stands up, scraping his chair against the tiled floor. “Alright, I’m going to go cancel our orders. You guys figure out where you want to go to eat.”

Umino, Sagisawa, and Kamoda immediately drag their chairs together and start chatting eagerly about possible options. Eishi hears curry more than once, so he too moves his chair closer--he is _not_ going to eat curry if he can help it. Ramen maybe, but never curry.

Before Eishi can join in, however, Takayama pulls at his sleeve. There’s an unexpectedly human smile on his face, as weird as that sounds, but Eishi finds that it’s usually when Takayama smiles that he seems the least human. It’s refreshing, and Eishi reciprocates the grin without thinking.

**Thanks.**

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy! i also dislike seafood, lol


End file.
